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Ohio Light Opera returns to Freedlander Theatre

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by Mike Telin

For over four decades Ohio Light Opera has enthralled audiences with performances of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog as well as American and European operettas and titles from the Golden Age of musical theater. Performed in the intimate Freedlander Theatre located on the campus of Wooster College, Ohio Light Opera offers fully-staged, entertaining productions in the midst of a charming college-town atmosphere.

Like nearly every performing arts organization in the world — especially those reliant on vocalists — OLO had to “improvise” during the pandemic. Now the company is ready to launch its 2022 season on Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s enchanting Cinderella. Tickets are available online. Click here to view a season calendar. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Perchance to Dream (July 24)

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

It’s not often that one encounters a musical theater piece with book, lyrics and score all written by the same person. The Welsh genius Ivor Novello (nom de plume for David Ivor Davies) is one example of such a super-talented creator. Just the concept of such a thing is almost overwhelming, until you see his Perchance to Dream brought to life as the final production of Ohio Light Opera’s 2019 season. It sparkles and glitters and will not easily be banished from your memory bank. Yet another oddity about this production: the story line is very close to a time-travel romance. However, Londoners do know good theater when they see it. This one ran for 1,020 performances, roughly 2½ years after opening on April 21, 1945. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Into the Woods (June 27)

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

There’s a wise old saying: be careful what you wish for — you might just get it. And if that happens, then what do you do? That could well be the theme of Into the Woods, now in rep at Ohio Light Opera through August 9. Once upon a time, Stephen Sondheim wrote lyrics for music that had been composed by others: among them were the classics West Side Story and Gypsy. At some point, he must have realized that writing the music might be more fun. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Offenbach’s La Périchole (July 18)

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by Kelly Ferjutz

You’ve heard of “screwball comedies,” right? Well, here’s your chance to see a screwball comedy disguised as an operetta. The sumptuous music is by the German-French master, Jacques Offenbach, and features a sparkling new English translation by OLO’s Jacob Allen. The original French libretto from 1868 is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Offenbach wrote nearly 100 operettas from the 1850s–1870s, on more than a dozen of which Meilhac collaborated, while Halévy assisted on more than twenty. Today, only half a dozen or so are still in the active repertoire. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe (July 12)

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

If you’ve never quite understood all the fuss about Gilbert & Sullivan, then you owe it to yourself to see Ohio Light Opera’s production of Iolanthe, in repertory at the College of Wooster through August 9. Do not delay, or you’ll miss one of the most luscious, lighter-than-air confections ever seen. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: George Gershwin’s Primrose

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

OLO-PrimroseGeorge Gershwin wrote the music for the English premiere of Primrose, catering to the British type of lyric theater —very different from the American. It’s a charming work, but has been hampered by being thought of as ‘too British’ for American sensitivities. Humbug!

[Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera launches 2017 season with The Music Man

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

SteveSteven Daigle is the mixmaster-in-chief at Ohio Light Opera, which takes up residence each summer at the College of Wooster. Running a residential repertory company makes things both easier and, at times, more difficult for the Artistic Director, now in his 18th season in that position. He’s an expert at picking one show from column A, and maybe two from B, or three from C, and then building on those choices. Still, no matter how astutely he picks performance possibilities, in the end, the success of a season all comes down to the performers onstage — and in the orchestra pit.

For the vocal part of that process, Daigle primarily relies on associate artistic director Julie Wright Costa, who, in her other life is head of the voice area at the University of Utah School of Music. After winnowing through the myriad applications and videotapes, Julie travels the country holding auditions. This year she visited seven different regions in her ever-elusive search for that perfect candidate. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Ivor Novello’s The Dancing Years (July 19)

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

OLO-Dancing-Years-1The Dancing Years, an OLO premiere this season, first appeared in the UK in 1939, and ran for 1150 performances, well into the beginning of WWII. Ivor Novello wrote the book and the music, while the lyrics are by Christopher Hassall. Novello was heavily influenced by the approaching war and the situation he had encountered in Vienna shortly before beginning this work. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne (July 16)

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by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

OLOLaVie1Screwball comedies of the mid-20th Century may well have been inspired by the zany 1866 operetta La Vie Parisienne, which ran for 136 performances. Judging from Ohio Light Opera’s wildly entertaining production (I saw the show on Saturday, July 16), composer Jacques Offenbach surely knew what he was doing. If you want to laugh a lot and have your mood lifted by fast-paced dancing and singing, this show is for you. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Have a Heart (July 7)

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by Kelly Ferjutz

special to ClevelandClassical.com

Heart3As a general rule, elevators go up and down, conveying people or goods from one level to another in a given building. The elevator on stage for OLO’s production  of Have a Heart, however, goes backwards. It takes the happy audience (plus cast and crew) straight back to early 1917, and the premiere production of Jerome Kern’s then-new musical. It’s a delightful journey, one you won’t want to miss. [Read more…]

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